Peasants

Introduction-

Would you want to be a peasant and live on small towns? Don’t think it’s good. Their life is very difficult. They have to work everyday. In spring, they have to plant different kinds of crops. In summer, they have to shear the sheeps for clothes, water their crops and weed. In autumn, they always pray for a good life and good food. For water, they use only one river source and soap was unheard at that time. Their childhood is also so bad for them. Some of their babies died in six months, because there were diseases.

What do they do everyday?

Working for the lord was their responsibility, too. Tools like pottery, leatherwork and iron were made with hand. The important material was the horn from cattle and sheep. Women and children had to feed the chickens, geese, the chicken’s chicks and eggs, and most of all weave clothes for the family. Women also have to milk the cow and shear the sheeps. Men have to grow crops for food and slaughter animals.

What are their homes like?

The peasants’ home is a little cottage and it’s on a small piece of land. It’s a one room house. It was made out of wattle and daub. The ​walls were made out of local flint. The floor was bare with only trampled earth. Very simple furniture was in the house; trestle table, bench, chest for clothes, and straw mattresses to sleep on. A stone hearth stood in the middle of the cottage. The house had no chimney, so it’s dark in there, but there is a hole in the middle of the roof to let the smoke go out. The roof is thatched. Food was stored in the attic in winter.

What clothes do they wear?

There are two kinds of hats. One kind was a straw hat to protect the head on hot days. The other hat is a felt hat made from cockerel feathers. In winter, they wear a brown woolen jacket lined with linen. Some jackets were round headed. For the under shirt, they wear a shirt made out of linen. A cheap pewter badge was worn for good luck. For boots, they wear leather boots. Leather flask or costrel was for carrying ale in the fields. Women wear long blouses. But at night, the peasants wear their night clothes in the Late Middle Ages.

What do they eat?

Peasants eat very simple food. Bread, porridge, fruits, vegetables, stew, eggs, beer, meat, and fish. Some of the vegetables were cabbage, spinach, onions, herbs, garlic, peas, lentils, beans, barley, oats, and parsley. Some of the fruits were apples, pears, cherries, and honey. Bees were also kept to make honey. Pork were from pigs, fish were from the ponds and meat was from the cows. But, for dessert at night, they made cheese wafers.

It was very important to store the food in the attic and it's difficult. Here are some ways the peasants store food; The peasants covered the food with salt in winter to store it, and it last only about 5-8 days. Another way the peasants used to store the food is to soak the food in brine and it last for 2 days. Meat was stored too, but in a different way,like for fish, they hung them in hooks, but it has to be dry, then they store it in barrels that are in a cool place and it lasts about 3 months. The vegetables were stored in jars. For some foods, such as fruits, herbs, and vegetables, they dry them in the sun.

What are some tools the peasants use?

Peasants are from middle ages, but they use many of the same tools we use today for farming. Usually for digging, they use a shovel. For chopping down wood, they use a small axe. There are two kinds of saws. One kind is a one man saw and the other one is a two man saw which has two handles. A pickaxe was used for breaking up stone or rocks, but there is another kind of tool for splitting stones and rocks, a stonecutter's chisel. When something is hot and the peasants want to pick it up, they use a blacksmith's tongs. Peasants use a hammer for pounding nails or objects just like we use today. Trowels were used for putting mortar between stones.

Peasants had a very different life than we have today. During the Middle Ages, they didn't have electricity and plowing machines for farming. Working for their families and the lord was a very hard thing to do. Peasants also have to try to have food everyday on their trestle table. Their clothes were made from animals' skin and linen. Their homes were just little cottages which doesn't have rooms and the floor was just bare Earth. But, having peasants in the Middle Ages was very very important, because who are going to do farmings and give food to the whole country? Even if they're poor, it doesn't mean that they're useless.​

EXTRAON HOW TO MAKE CHEESE WAFERS

The peasants had celebrations on holidays and they made cheese wafers.

THE STEPS……….

~First, beat 4-6 eggs in a bowl.
~Add a pinch of salt.
~Have enough flour to make moist dough.
~Roll the dough in flat sheets.
~Cut into bits.
~Cook it.
~Take a frying pan which has to be coated with oil.
~Take out the cooked wafers.
~Put cheese between two wafers.
~Heat it in the pan, so that the cheese is melted.
~NOW YOU CAN EAT YOUR OWN CHEESE WAFERS!!!!!!!!!!!!